Leaders condemn Tasikmalaya's wave of violence

JAKARTA (JP): Politicians and religious leaders condemned yesterday the violence in the West Java town of Tasikmalaya, calling on the authorities to discover the root of the problem, and resolve it.

"Such an incident should not happen again in other regions. The most important thing is to determine the root of the problem to prevent its recurrence," said Wahono, speaker of the House of Representatives, quoted Antara.

"I am very concerned about the Tasikmalaya incident, and I hope this kind of incident will not happen again. If there is a problem, we should seek out the root cause," Wahono said.

Budi Hardjono, a House member from the Indonesian Democratic Party faction, said the riot showed how precarious the situation in Indonesia was, where an unsubstantiated rumor could spark trouble.

Budi deplored the "irresponsible" behavior of some of the police officers in Tasikmalaya, which sparked the anger of the people.

Local officials said the unrest was ignited by a report that three teachers from an Islamic boarding school were beaten in police custody. The teachers had been summoned because the son of one of the officers had been punished by the teachers for stealing at school.

Hardjono said parents who sent their children to Islamic boarding schools should not interfere in the way the schools are run. "The school administrators know what they're doing. It is only natural for them to punish students who violate the rules," he added.

Abu Hasan Sazili, a House member of the Golkar faction, called for stiff punishment for the errant police officers.

"The Armed Forces and the National Police should take disciplinary action," Sazili said.

The Communion of Churches in Indonesia, expressing disappointment and deep concern over the incident, called on all parties, including security officers, the Tasikmalaya people and Christians everywhere, for restraint.

"Especially members of the churches, we call on them to guard and respect the integrity of the law," the communion's executive board said.

The violence "is difficult to accept by anyone for whatever reason," they said. The incident was an attempt to discredit religious communities, to disrupt peace and tranquility, to sow mutual suspicion and to depress the people, the board added.

Church buildings

Several church buildings and other property were destroyed or gutted by the mob in Thursday's riot.

"The incident is a demonstration of violence which we believe can never resolve the problems, whatever they are, which face society and the nation.

"In the name of all the churches in Indonesia, the communion's board appeals to everyone, including the security forces, to prevent and stop all forms of violence and abuse of power."

The chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, Hasan Basri, said the riot had nothing to do with religion.

"I'm convinced scrupulous and irresponsible persons mobilized the masses to become destructive," Hasan was quoted by Antara as saying.

This was not a conflict between one group of faithful and another, he said.

This was more a social phenomena that could happen, at another time, at another place, he said, adding the perpetrators had used religion to mask their intention of stirring trouble.

Hasan called on everyone to exercise restraint.

"We regret the incident, which should not have happened, and we hope it will never repeat itself," he said.

Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), warned of attempts to sow divisions in the nation, "something which religious communities in this country have not fully grasped", Antara reported.

Speaking in the Darussalamah Moslem boarding school in Way Jepara, Lampung, Abdurrahman said religious communities in Indonesia should continue to work toward national unity.

He regretted the attempt by some government officials to dismiss that there are conflicts between religious communities.

"What about those fires?" he asked, adding they indicated that grudges exist between people of different faiths.

Abdurrahman Thursday evening issued a statement deploring the violence and calling on all NU members to refrain from taking part in the incident.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation said it was planing to send a fact finding team to Tasikmalaya.

Foundation chairman Bambang Widjojanto deplored the police behavior which caused the unrest in the first place.

"Violence by the security apparatus begets violence," Bambang said. (emb/imn)